Crowfeather's story
by ShadowMuncher
Summary: Leila Blackburn was born with a special gift. That gift makes her a powerful ally, but in the same right, a powerful enemy. She will have to try her best to not be corrupted. By evil doers and her gift alike. Mix that in with Teenage romance and angst and you've got a ticking time bomb. Find out what happens? Possible Nightcrawler/Oc. Taking suggestions. (Rated T for now)
1. Chapter 1: The Start

Chapter One: The Start.

* * *

Leila Blackburn was born someplace off of the Virginia line to two very loving parents and an older Brother. The only thing off about their perfect daughter was her black eyes. The Doctors tried to brush it off, saying that no eyes are truly black, only very _very_ dark brown. But not Leila. Her eyes were black. But it was something they looked over, Her Mother even found it doe-like when her baby girl would stare up at her.

Leila wasn't like her Brother, Gabriel when he was a baby. Quite the opposite. She didn't cry, or fuss. Nathan and Eve Blackburn were scared for her at first, worried something was wrong. But the Doctors again assured them, every baby was different and it was nothing to worry about.

However, this trait stayed with Leila long after she grew from a small baby into a toddler. She didn't make a peep, was always so quiet no matter how many times her parents tried to teach her to say one of their names. Eve wanted so badly for her to say, "Momma!" Since Gabriel's first word had been Daddy.

But no such luck.

They thought it was peculiar but every where else she seemed to be a perfectly normal toddler so they didn't worry about far too much. There were a few times Gabriel swore up and down that he had heard his baby sister babbling in her room when she was on her own, talking to someone. But of course whenever the parents went to check nothing of the sort was happening. Gabriel would get a chastising for lying, and then be sour at his weirdo sister.

Eve and Nathan just assumed it was him having to get used to not being the only child around anymore. Gabriel soon learned his lesson, and didn't come to them anymore about it though he was still quite sure he heard voices from her room.

Soon enough Toddler Leila became a young child, old enough to play pretend and play with dolls and draw. She spoke too, sometimes. Though usually only when spoken too, and a very few words at a time.

It was around this time that the Blackburn parents began to notice strange things around the house. Things seemingly moving on their own, the TV turning on when no one was there. Footsteps when both children were in bed. They almost even thought it might have been ghosts! Nothing ever bad happened, however, so they decided instead to look like the less than perfect family that they surely were, they kept it to themselves.

However, Gabriel was never fibbing about those voices. Even the young Toddler Leila knew how to bring her friends around. Her friends were the ones in the shadows, the ones that she wouldn't know until much later that she herself were creating. A sort of imaginary friend that you could see... and give life too.

Leila had a very strange, but wonderful and beautiful gift. She could manipulate shadows, the dark, to do nearly whatever she pleased. If she wanted to sneak cookies in the middle of the night, she could. As long as the lights were out, no one would have any idea it was ever her. If she wanted to watch TV after bedtime, she could! Even when Momma came out into the living room to see how it turned on, all she had to do was sit really still and wait for her to leave. And then she turned the TV back on, but much much quieter this time.

When Momma and Daddy told her she couldn't have a pet, she made one! A cute little puppy with floppy ears and a long fluffy tail, one that was only for her. She made it go away when other people were around, she didn't want to get into trouble. Also her friends, she knew what happened when Gabriel tattled on her, so she didn't want to get in trouble instead of him.

Leila started to go to school, but no other kids were like her. She was the only one with really black hair, and the only one with really black eyes. And when the lights went out when Rodney teased her about not talking, that was an accident. At least they got out of class for awhile. Leila was smart enough to know that she was different after the first few weeks of class, her friends told her too. So she tried to be careful, much more careful so she didn't take the lights away again. No matter how much she liked the dark.

Leila learned that she liked flowers. She really liked roses. The teacher said they came in all sorts of colors, so when she asked if one came in black, the teacher scolded her saying that black was a dreary color and that she should enjoy colors like red and yellow and white more. She didn't understand what was wrong with black. So she went home that day and made one herself. A black rose that is, except it was all black. The stem and everything, and it went away as soon as she stopped concentrating.

After that Leila always wanted to know just what she could do, so she would try and make all sorts of things. All sorts of shapes and sizes, toys that her Mommy and Daddy wouldn't get for her. The toys were nice, expect she could only play with them a little bit. And never when her friends were around, it was too hard to keep them all around at once. But Leila was determined to be able to one day, so she could show her friends too.

Gabriel was mean to her. He would often pick on her for not talking, and not being 'normal' or having friends. She did have friends though. And a puppy. She didn't like it when he picked on her, but she liked him. He was her older brother. He didn't look much like her, he had tan skin like their parents and blond hair like their Daddy.

"I can't believe we are even related!" Gabriel would sneer at her, "I know you're different, and I'm gonna show Mom and Dad too! And then you'll be out of here!"

She didn't argue back, but would always cry by herself when he was gone. She didn't even let her friends come out when that happened, she didn't want them to see her cry and do something mean to Gabriel. They already didn't like him, like they didn't like Rodney.

So when Gabriel started to pick on her more and more, she didn't even notice when she started to let the shadows get bigger. They started to cover the walls, the floors, her whole tiny body. Gabriel's eyes bugged out when he saw it he was so scared. And when he tried to go tattle to Mommy and Daddy, they were gone and Leila was back in her room playing with her doll house.

"Why don't you play house with your sister, Gabbey? You two don't do much together!" Their mother had encouraged. Gabriel looked reluctant and tried to push past Eve, "Now, Gabe!"

Gabriel had sulked over to Leila's doll house and she smiled innocently up to him. "What was that?" Gabriel asked when Mommy was gone. Leila shrugged, picking up a doll who's hair was crazy and handed it to Gabe.

"The dark stuff? I dunno, It just happens sometimes. Usually not like that though, cuz I don't get sad much." She paused and looked at him, frowning, "But you made me sad, sorry if I scared you Gabriel."

Gabriel glared and opened his mouth to say something mean, but froze when the closet door opened slowly, it looked like a door into shadows itself. He shut up and pretended to enjoy playing dolls with his weirdo, now scary sister.

* * *

That was years ago. Leila had learned what her powers were, what her gift was. And what her 'friends' were. Shadow manipulation was her gift, controlling shadows to her will, projecting them as she pleased. She could slip into the shadows and disappear completely to the eye, but she could see in the dark perfectly. Her Shadow magic counted for a very powerful weapon, but she had to be careful, not to allow it to corrupt her. Professor X said they were lucky to have found her when she was young, to be able to train her and help her control it and learn to progress and strengthen her abilities.

She could remember meeting him for the first time like it was yesterday.

"You're special, aren't you Leila?" He had asked her. Beside him was a grumpy looking man, but Leila liked his scratchy looking peach fuzz.

"You're special." Leila said, standing up from her bedroom floor and lifting her teddy bear to her arms with a shadow tendril. She had learned she could hide the shadows to unknowing eyes, but this man could see through it. She could feel him poke around in her mind, but she didn't mind. Maybe he needed help with his old-man home work.

When she thought that, she could see the man smile. She smiled back and looked at his wheelchair, and then back up to him. She seemed to want to ask him something, but didn't just yet. However, she didn't need to.

Professor Xavier was surprised with just how loud this little girls mind was, and he could feel her shadow magics hold around the house before he even came into the door. He noticed how the closet rattled, and his smile twitched. He wondered just how far the corruption had reached with Leila, but to his surprise she seemed perfectly fine. Which meant she had quite a bit of will power, as naive to it all she seemed.

"My name is Charles Xavier, and we have a lot to talk about."

"Okay, but only if you let me ride on your lap."

Leila was broken from her thoughts when she felt the familiar poke and prod of Charles himself. She grinned a bit and left her tidy room, placing her teddy bare on top of her dresser. It was a little more dingy than she remembered, but she still loved it.

 _'It feels awfully lazy to reach me this way rather than fetching me, Prof.'_ Leila thought coyly.

 _'It's easier this way, no stairs.'_ Was the Professors response. Leila snickered and made my way to his office, she was just about ready to get to school, hopefully this wouldn't make them late. She pushed through the door to see Scott and Jean already there, along with the professor and some mystery hooded person.

"Ah, there she is. Come in, Leila. Everyone, I would like you to meet Kurt Wagner." The Professor greeted Leila and she walked over to the other two Teens. "He arrived late last night."

"Hey, Kurt." Scott greeted sticking out his hand, "This is Jean. I'm Scott. And that's Leila, How you doing?"

Kurt took a step back and Leila tilted her head curiously. "Kurt, you are among friends here." Charles encouraged.

"Hello," Kurt said, bringing his hand out of his pocket. His hand that was blue and only had three fingers. Leila could see Scott's reaction making Kurt pull his hand away.

Charles cleared his throat, "I was just telling Kurt about how I set up this institute for Gifted youngsters, youngsters who gifts aren't always an asset."

Scott looked at the Professor sheepishly, "Oh so... You heard about that last night?"

Leila rolled her eyes. She was swamped with so much homework she had missed the game last night, and all the excitement from it. She felt like she always missed the exciting things!

"It was difficult not to, It was on all the news channels." Charles said sternly.

Leila rose her eyebrows and pretended to not pay attention to Scott getting chastised by the Professor, looking at everything but them. Even managing to sneak in an awkward wave to the new guy.

She realized she had zoned out when Jean spoke, "How about you Kurt, do you have a gift that brought you here?"

Leila looked over to Kurt and saw his hood was down. He had shoulder length dark blue hair, well, everything about him was blue. Besides those piercing yellow eyes. Suddenly he poofed away in a cloud of smoke, only to reappear across the room.

He looked over at everyone with a smirk, "Maybe."

Leila grinned, "Teleporter. Nice."

Scott and Jean both looked at Leila. Scott rose an eyebrow, "Oh come on, it took you like two months to even speak to me!"

Leila giggled and shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, getting better at the whole speaking thing." Jean smiled over and nodded, "Good. We're glad to hear that."

"I'll be helping to get Kurt settle in, we can talk more tonight." Charles dismissed us with a wave of his hand.

"See ya later Professor!" Jean waved from the door, Scott right behind her. Leila stood awkwardly a few extra moments before looking over to Kurt.

"Uh... You'll like it here, we've got good people. Gotta go!" Leila waved to the both of them and jogged out the door to catch up with Scott and Jean.

"I think I will." Kurt mumbled, just as a shadow tendril shot through the door, picking up Leila's forgotten bag, and trailing it back out.

Charles only smiled.

* * *

Leila hummed while walking to her locker, today she was wearing a knee length black dress, with black stockings and knee high leather boots. She kept her hair straight and long, flowing down her back beneath a baggy beanie.

"34, 35, 36, 37, aaand here we are!" She trilled when she got to hers, dropping her bag from her shoulder. Luckily she had one of the more secluded lockers, usually not having to deal with as many people in the morning. Because she was certainly not one of those sorts of people.

"Yo, Crowfood!" Leila rolled her eyes with a grin when a familiar smell filled the air, "What's up Toad?"

The toad-mutant jumped up above the locker beside hers, looking down at her with his arms crossed, his eyes always looked so baggy but Leila thought that was just a toad-thing.

"Y'know. Hanging around." Toad snerked. Leila put away her books and lifted her brow, "Yeah yeah, I heard you almost got stomped last night."

"If it wasn't for your freaky-eyed friend, yeah. Old Toad would be road kill, yo." Toad said, hopping down from the lockers, sticking his hands in his pockets and leaned back against them instead.

"Lucky you, eh?" Leila shut her locker and turned to look at him. He looked too skinny too. Leila had met the Toad-mutant shortly after starting school here, he wasn't the best at hiding his ability but she thought most people would just think he's freaky. She still felt maybe like keeping an eye on him was a good idea. They weren't like friends or anything, but hey.

"Yeah right? I ain't so sure, yo. Professor Darkholme wants me to check him out." Toad kicked at the floor.

"Dorkhome is a scary woman, I wouldn't ignore her if I were you. Just like, don't get in trouble Toad. I don't think I'd be able to protect you from Scott." Leila laughed at his offended look.

"'Ey man, I don't need no protection!"

Leila took the shadow from beneath him and tripped him up, just to pick him back up at the last moment. "Sure sure, tell those football jocks that!" She waved from over her shoulder and made her way to class. She would probably be late because of that, but still. The look on his face was worth it.

* * *

School was finally out, and Leila was only filled with a little tower of homework. Of course. She was walking into the institute with Scott and Jean.

"The Professor wants the Toad to come here?" Leila had asked on the way into the door. Scott nodded, "Seems that way."

"I mean, he's not a bad kid or whatever. I dunno though, something about him is fishy sometimes. Good on ya for saving the dweeb though!" Leila patted Scott's back when she jogged by him on her way up the stairs to her room.

She was humming, again, when she bumped into somebody in the hallway. "Yikes!" She rarely lost her footing, and even when she did, her shadow would just lift her back up and steady her. She didn't even have to try for that to happen.

Leila glanced down to see a stranger. Her brow furrowed, "Hello."

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." As soon as she heard that accent she knew who it was. Should have guessed by the color of his hair. She helped him up and grinned, shrugging her shoulders.

"No worries, Kurt. Is this your room?" She asked, nodding to the one he just left. He nodded to her.

"Hey cool! We're neighbors." She laughed and pointed to her room that was the next one down the hall. For some reason, they were still holding hands from where she had lifted him up.

She blinked, it was strange to feel his two fingers on a hand that looked like it had five. "Can I get my hand back?"

Kurt's face turned pink and he jumped, lifting his hand away, "Oh!- eheh, sorry!"

Leila laughed, shrugging again. "No worries, blue boy. Those things are pretty cool, huh?" She asked, pointing at the wrist watch look alike.

"Oh yeah, totally! I never thought I would look normal!" Kurt's face lifted to an excited expression.

Leila simply grinned, "I dunno. I thought you looked pretty cool before, but hey, whatever floats your fluffy boat. I'm gonna tackle this homework, feel free to come visit sometime. Maybe you can teach me some German, ya?"

Kurt looked surprised but smiled genuinely and nodded, "Yeah, I'd like that."

Leila nodded and waved, walking past him and into her room where she plopped down onto her bed, using her shadow tendrils to collect a pencil from her desk across the room. "Ughh... Math sucks."

...

Hours later, Leila had finally finished her homework. With some procrastination maybe. She stood up from her bed and stretched, looking out the window and noticing that it had suddenly started to rain out of no where.

"Hrm... What is Storm up to?" She wondered aloud, making her way out of her room and down the hall. She thought she heard a crash. And then she definitely heard one. She stopped a moment, wondering if she should even bother to check what it was before shrugging and making the rest of the way into the main entrance.

Leila's jaw dropped at what she saw. A now blue Kurt was 'dancing' around, and a more and more agitated Toad was chasing after him. The chase went down a separate hallway and Leila walked down the stairs, staring after them. "What even just happened."

She looked over when she saw Storm fly in through an open window and watched her walk over to where Professor Xavier was wheeling in. "Yes. Tolansky is indeed gifted. He could be one of us."

"Sometimes, professor, I feel your good heart blinds even you from the truth." Storm said, her hands on her hips. Leila walked over to them, standing still and quiet for a moment, listening to the crashes from the other room. "They are gonna wreck the place."

Professor gave her a look and she shrugged, looking at Storm for backup. Storm only closed her eyes and shook her head.

After a few more clashes and shatters, the boys had made their way back in. "This test is over!" Charles said sternly, "Tolansky does possess the X-Gene, he is welcome to join us, if he so desires."

"Only thing I desire is blue boys fuzzy head!" Toad said as he jumped at Kurt, who was clinging to one of the lights hanging from the ceiling. They both poofed in a cloud of smoke. Suddenly there was red, flashing lights. Leila smacked her forehead, "Out of all places, he poofed them into the danger room?"

Leila was the farthest away from the Danger room, so by the time she got there, in her suit most of the damage had been done. Her eyes widened, seeing Toad nearly squashed between two walls. Using her shadows she lifted both hands up into the air, the darkness spreading along the floor rapidly until it reached the closing wall, her fists close and the wall crumples like it were a discarded piece of paper. "Toad, Get over here!" She called out to him, narrowly dodging a beam of energy shot at her.

Charles was shutting down the system, "Oh now I get it!" Kurt said, "It's a training room! I just pull the plug and uh... ugh!"

The blaster went crazy when the plug was pulled blasting Toad straight into Leila, both of them being thrown into the wall behind them. Thankfully Storm was there to zap out the out of control machine. "Ugh... Ouch." Leila muttered, pushing Toad off of her. Her shadow lifted her up by her arms and she shook the debris from the wall out of her hair.

"Forget this man," Toad said when he got up to his feet, "I've seen enough. I'm out of here,"

"Tolanksy!" Scott cried after him, but he had already hopped out of the room. "Sorry Professor... I couldn't stop him."

"It's alright, Cyclops. He wasn't ready to be one of us." Charles voice could be heard over the intercom.

"I blew it too, Professor. I'm sorry." Kurt shook his head, "You've been wonderful but I guess... I-I don't belong here." His voice was so sad, and he poofed before anyone could say anything. Leila frowned where he had been moments before. Scott went off after him, and the rest of them left to get changed and cleaned up. She was sure Scott would handle it, he was a friendly guy when he wanted to be, even if it took awhile for herself to get warmed up to him.

Leila decided to take a long and hot shower, to work out a sore shoulder from heading straight into a wall. After a quick towel dry to her hair, she dressed into her pajamas. Which were comfy, plain black sweatpants and a tank top. She was on her way back home when she looked up, blinking when she came face to face with the fuzzy blue guy.

"Hi again." She said, a little self conscious to be found after a shower."Oh, Hi Leila."

She stood awkwardly a moment before biting her bottom lip. "So, Nightcrawler. That's cool."

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Thanks! I didn't hear your code name."

Leila gave a half grin and shrugged her shoulders, "It's Crowfeather."

"Why do they call you Crowfeather?" Kurt asked excitedly, holding up his hands in front of him.

Leila laughed and gave a wink, walking around him. "I'll show you sometime, Night Blue!"

Kurt watched her go, his face turning a slight shade of purple. 

* * *

(A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read! This is an idea I had because I recently have re-watched the show... Not every chapter will be an episode, and when an episode is brought up, not each one will be so straight along the story. I just felt like the intro episode was important! If you liked this story, please let me know so I can be sure to push out some more chapters. This is more of a test to see how it does, hehe. I was thinking for a Nightcrawler/OC romance but I am open to suggestions.

Thanks again! 3


	2. Chapter 2: School day blues

Chapter 2: School day blues

* * *

 _Swirls of black and purples covered Leila's eyes, forcing her breathing to turn ragged. She couldn't see. She couldn't breath. Something was wrong. Her mouth stretched wide to talk, to cry out, to say anything but no sound was made. She felt like she was drowning, and no one was there to save her. Something was pulling her deeper and deeper, claw-like markings made of pure shadow began to cover her pale skin, restricting her movement. The marks brought a burn that wasn't anything like she ever experienced. Panic began to set in, she thrashed with all her might but couldn't move. Suddenly a scream ripped through the air._ One that sent Leila straight up in her bed, gasping in a breath of air. She looked around her room wildly, not realizing she was awake yet.

The scream was her alarm clock, but when she realized that she was too distracted by the tall, looming shadowy figure standing over the foot of her bed. She gasped again, lifting a hand and closing it to a fist, the figure dispersed. "Crap..." Leila muttered, holding a hand up to her forehead. The dream was fresh in her mind, her heart still hammering.

Once it felt like her heart wasn't in her throat anymore, she pulled herself from under her blankets and shakily stood up. "That's the third time in the past few months I wasn't able to control a projection." She muttered to herself. Her hand moved to rub her sore neck, before raking through her hair. She blinked realizing how much of a mess it was, not even having to look at the small mirror she had in her room to know it was sticking up in all sorts of places.

Leila hesitated a moment, debating if she wanted to bring up the incident to the Professor. The last two times she had, she was forced to a mind training session that stretched on for hours, and she had been skipping out of some of her meditation lately... It was probably nothing. Plus she really, really wanted to help Kurt settle in at his first day of school.

With a stern nod to herself, she decided she wouldn't bother the Professor with it today. Picking her clothes she made a dash for the bathroom, thankfully being one of the first ones up to snag it for herself. With the amount of lengthy black hair, she needed a bit of extra time with it anyways!

Locking the door behind her she turned to the counter, placing her clothes for the day down. She glanced up into the mirror and jumped back with a gasp, seeing her eyes had turned purely black, without any whites. She blinked a few times, and her eyes went back to normal. She groaned, lifting a hand to her chest. "It's too early for all this..."

After a long shower, and a good amount of time brushing out her hair with the blow dryer she was finally done. Today she wore black – She always wore black – washed out jeans and a pair of converse. She chose a waist length hoodie, that of course was black and had a design of swirls and colors on the front over the chest.

When she opened the door she came face to face with a groggy looking Scott, "Took you long enough." He muttered.

Leila grinned and shrugged her shoulders, walking by him. "Hope you don't mind cold showers, I think I used up all the warm water~" She could hear him groan making her stifle a laugh, walking back to her room to grab her bag.

Normally Leila was also a very groggy morning person, however with the two scares she already had, she was more than wide awake. Still, she made her way down the stairs, skipping every second stair. The kitchen in the institute had just about everything you could ever want. But all she wanted was a good cup of coffee.

She was humming a song when she turned the corner into the kitchen, blinking slowly when she saw someone had already brewed some fresh coffee.

He looked up at her from the newspaper he was reading and grunted.

She blinked again.

A pen drop would be able to be heard before...

"LOGAN!" She tackled him in a hug. The Wolverine stumbled back, surprised, catching his step. The counter also caught his back and was digging against it uncomfortably but he let out a gruff chuckle and squeezed her back with one arm before she dislodged herself from the hug.

"When did you get back?" Leila asked him, not turning away. Logan glanced behind her to see her shadow tendrils grabbing a mug out of the cupboard and pouring herself a cup of coffee, two spoonfuls of sugar and maybe a bit too much milk.

He smirked behind his mug, taking a sip and looked back down to his paper, "Sometime last night. Found a stinky surprise waiting for me."

Leila rose an eyebrow before nodding when she remembered just what had happened the night before. "Ah, yeah. Toad? Heh. He's a strange one."

"Only thing strange I found about him was the singe of my nosehairs." Logan grunted.

Leila laughed.

Logan and Leila's relationship was an interesting one. The first time she met him was when he was with Charles to bring her here, and they didn't talk then. She just figured he was grumpy and needed a nap. However when she grew up with him around, she quickly realized no amount of naps would make the Wolverine any less grumpy. Little Leila didn't mind though, and often would try to hang around him anyway. It got to the point where Logan would just ignore her and let her hang around him. Eventually, she even managed to get him to play dolls with her. But he told her if she ever told anyone he did that he would 'come get her'. Leila remembered finding that a hoot and the first thing she did was tell Charles. Logan was not happy, especially at the somewhat taunting smile that Charles gave to him. Fast forward a few years, and Leila looked up to Logan like he was some sort of grumpy, hairy, claw-y Uncle. And while Logan wouldn't say, he was fond of the girl too.

They caught up a bit over coffee, before Jean called to Leila that they were leaving for school. Leila excused herself from the conversation and gave Logan one more hug, "It's good seeing you again, grump!" She called over her shoulder before racing after the other teens.

Logan lifted up his paper and gave the slightest grin.

* * *

"Oh man, I am so nervous!" Kurt cried over the stereo that was currently being flipped through by Scott. Since Scott and Jean were the only ones that could drive, they all usually car pooled together.

"You'll be fine, Kurt!" Jean said, looking over her shoulder. She had taken the front seat next to Scott, while Leila and Kurt were in the back. "I think Leila has most of the same classes with you, she can show you around right Leila?"

Leila wasn't so used to sitting right next to someone, so she looked up at her name being called, otherwise shrinking down into her seat, "O-Oh, yeah Kurt. Sure."

"Are you sure? I don't want to be any trouble," Kurt spoke, turning his head to Leila.

She waved him off with a small smile, "It's no worries. Jeans right, we do have a lot of the same classes so I don't mind."

"Awesome! Thanks!" Kurt held up two thumbs up and Leila grinned. She thought he was enjoying his image inducer a bit too much, but didn't really blame him. Not that she thought his actual looks were scary, she found the blue-furred mutant interesting to look at. But she imagined if she were in his place, she would feel very similar to looking 'normal'.

Finally reaching school they hopped out of the car and made their way inside. People looked on to Kurt and Leila who walked together to their lockers, which were luckily enough the opposite side of each others.

"Why are they staring?" Kurt whispered nervously, leaning over to Leila. He was a good few inches taller than her.

"'Cos you're new. That's all, relax." Leila replied with a smile. She lifted her bag higher over her shoulder. "Or it's because you're hanging out with me, a lot of people leave me alone because they think I'm a goth."

"Are you?" Kurt asked with a grin. Leila looked over to him, humming. She noticed she liked it better when she could see his two little fangs when he smiled without the inducer.

"I do wear a lot of black. I don't go outside way too much, I am a bit anti-social, uh, yeah. I guess I am." She teased with a wink when they arrived at her locker.

She pointed over to his when he seemed confused for a minuet, and chuckled at his flustered movements to get over there. She was sure it would only take him a little while to get comfortable with everyone at the Institute, and then to make friends at school.

"Yo, Crowfood!" The familiar greeting and smell entered the air and Leila finished packing up her books and selected the ones she would need. She closed her locker to see Toad standing beside it.

"Tolansky, I'd say it was a surprise. But it never is." She playfully said while turning to face him. The toad-mutant paused a moment, his cheeks turning a bit pink before he shrugged.

"Yo, I can't believe you live with those crazy fools!" His hands stuffed into his pockets and he kicked at a locker, the metal sound clanging through the halls that were quickly emptying. The first bell would ring soon.

"I'm also a crazy fool, did you not get the memo?" She asked, grinning challengingly.

"No way, dog. Not like them."

Leila simply shrugged, clicking her tongue. "Maaaybe you just haven't seen me in action yet then."

"Saw enough when she saved your butt!" Kurt said, coming over with a accusing pointing finger.

Toad eyes widened, "Not you again! Yer looking awfully normal, you blue-furred gecko."

Leila decided to intervene before a fight had a chance to start, stepping between them. "I need to show Kurt to our first class, so. I'll see you later, Toadude."

"Yeah yeah..." Toad grumbled when Leila grabbed onto Kurts hand to drag him away. Kurt looked over his shoulder and glared at Toad. "I don't get why you speak to him, he's a real jerk!"

Leila shrugged, "I dunno, he's okay sometimes. Plus I don't have too many friends here. Have a hard time getting along with..." She paused and whispered the last word " _Humans_."

Kurt grinned and threw his arm around her shoulder, "Then no more settling for half-pint toad friends! I'll be your friend, Leila!"

Leila blinked, confused before grinning and ducking from under his arm. "I don't settle, thank you. But yes, I would love for us to be friends. But if we are late to first class –" She said right as the first bell went off, "The teacher will not be _our_ friend, get it?"

Kurt smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

* * *

First few classes were simple, since it was still early into the year there wasn't way too much work other than a few stickler teachers. Kurt and Leila were able to sit together through most of their classes and chat here and there.

She found herself liking his accent, thinking it was pretty cute that all the w's came out as v's. Maybe she just liked accents. There were a few times that she would zone out, thinking about her dream. She didn't think it was much of an issue, until the lights flickered. Thankfully the lunch bell rang shortly after and Leila jumped up, grabbing Kurt's hand and rushed out of the classroom.

"Whoa! You are in a hurry, are you that hungry?" Kurt teased.

Leila gave a shaky laugh, clearing her head of the dream the best she could, "Always!"

"So wheres the lunchroom?" Kurt asked, looking around. Leila hesitated a moment. She felt like she needed some fresh air, and she wasn't sure she could stomach the schools food right now.

"Leila?" He asked, waving a hand in front of her face when she didn't reply.

She reached up and grabbed the hand, turning her gaze up to meet his. She noticed they were a dark-blue tint with the inducer on. She grinned when he nearly jumped, "Wanna bounce? We could grab lunch some place else and be back before anyone notices."

Kurt seemed unsure, "Is that against the rules?"

Leila shrugged, "Well. Typically we aren't supposed to leave school grounds for lunch, but I mean.. With a certain blue dudes power, who would know? You aren't a scardy cat, are you~?"

"Scandalous!" Kurt said, flashing a grin. Leila still had hold of his hand, "And no way, I'm no scardy cat! But I can only go so far with my teleports. Someone might see us."

Leila squeezed his hand, and her shadow rapidly wrapped around her, blending her into the darkness to hide her from sight. "Whoa!" Kurt breathed. "I can still feel you, freaky!"

"Super freaky. Look down." Leila whispered. And when Kurt did, Leila had to hold tighter onto his hand when he jumped, realizing he too was invisible. "Cool!" He gasped.

"No kidding. There's this burger joint down the road, think you can manage?"

"I got this!"

Leila and Kurt grinned, though no one could see it. The only sign they had been there at all was the faint smell of brimstone.

….

Leila had paid for their meals, which were two of the most greasiest looking burgers ever. A guilty pleasure of hers, and soon to be Kurt's. They sat together outside of the school, having come back after getting the food. Other teens were scattered about, but mostly they were on their own.

"Good huh?" Leila asked with a wide grin, seeing Kurt's mouth stuffed with huge bites of his burger.

He tried to speak, but it came out in intangible words muffled by the food. Leila giggled and wiped her mouth after each bite, the grease on these burgers were horrible in the long run, but boy, did they ever make it worth it.

"Nothing's better than junk food during a school day." Leila winked when he finally swallowed his mouthful.

"Totally! Is that your power, to go invisible?" He asked. Leila glanced around. They were secluded enough they could speak about it.

"That's part of it. I control shadows, there are some fancy words for it but in short it's just easier to call it shadow magic." She said, picking at her burger.

"Cool! Like when you crushed that wall that was gonna flatten Toad." Kurt snickered.

Leila smiled and nodded, "Yeah. I can do things like that, being able to control shadows to manipulate other objects... or people." She mumbled the last bit. "But to control people it's harder, I have to be close enough and link myself with them, and only if both of our shadows are clear. It takes a lot of concentration too."

"You could totally turn someone into a puppet!" Kurt said, after swallowing another mouthful.

"Yeah, heh. Pretty much. I can do like, beams of darkness. And orbs. Like elemental attacks."

Kurt looked at her expectantly so she continued, "Some of the things I can do, I haven't tried on actual people. Like I know I can send my shadows in a.. 'patch' around someone, blinding them and taking away their senses. But the Professor said that could be too dangerous for someone so I need to be careful about it."

Kurt stared at her still, mouth agape, "I have some defense capabilities as well, such as being able to project a wave of sorts to block out attacks. I can manipulate this also to build up a wall if I needed to protect someone else."

She looked down, "There's other stuff too, I just don't know about it yet. But I can _feel_ it, y'know?"

Kurt nodded to her, hands clutching his greasy burger. His cheeks were puffy again with another bite.

Leila hesitated a moment before leaning back and shrugging, "So I guess that's it." There was much more she could tell him, but she didn't want to scare him away so soon. She found herself enjoying his presence.

Kurt suddenly held up a finger and waved it, "Nu-uh, you still need to tell me why they call you Crowfeather!"

Leila grinned, breathing out a sigh of relief and nodded. "I certainly do. But that would be easier to show you."

Kurt looked at her excitedly, "Now?"

Leila laughed, shaking her head. "No, I can't here. Soon though, when we are back at the institute."

* * *

The rest of the school day went off without a hitch. In Gym they played basketball, but Leila wasn't much of a sporty person. So whenever she got unlucky enough to get the ball, she would throw it to Jean. Jean was amazing at sports, Basketball, Soccer, whatever. She could do it.

No, Leila wasn't jealous.

The ride home was much more comfortable for Leila, she didn't find herself ducking down into her seat, and joined in talking with Jean, Scott and Kurt.

Leila slipped off of the group when they got back to the institute, there would be training but it would be later on.

Walking into her room she sat down on her bed with a deep sigh. The day was otherwise smooth, but she felt unnerved, as if someone was watching her or listening in on her. She knew it wasn't the case, but sometimes it could be overwhelming.

Flopping down to her back, she used a tendril to flip on her stereo. Soft rock music filled the room and relaxed her, coaxing her to close her eyes for a moment.

She groaned inwardly when the darkness in her eyes danced around with her eyes closed. She brought a hand up to her forehead and pushed against it, opening her eyes. It hadn't been this bad in awhile, and it made her heart race. Something was off, and she wasn't sure what it was.

The Corruption was picking at her far too often lately, and the concentration it took for her to be able to push it away was building up.

"I need to tell the Professor." She mumbled to herself, looking up at her ceiling.

Her heart squeezed nervously. She didn't want to. When it was just her and the Professor, with him poking in her mind, entering it to help her ease the problem. It scared her, she worried for the both of them. She knew that it unnerved the professor sometimes too, even if he acted like it didn't. She could feel it when he was in her mind.

A knock on the door had her jumping out of her skin, she sat up, tapping her forehead in annoyance. "Come in!"

Kurt opened the door, his image inducer still turned on. "Oh, hey Kurt." Leila greeted, sitting up fully to tuck her legs beneath her.

"Guten Tag, Leila." Kurt greeted. Leila couldn't help but smile when he spoke German, even if she didn't know a word of it.

"What's up?" She asked, waving him to come inside. She then patted the spot next to her on her bed when he stood awkwardly at the doorway.

He grinned sheepishly and walked over to sit down next to her, she noticed she still had his school bag. "I like your room, it's very cozy." He said.

Leila glanced around. Her room wasn't much. When she had first come here she had the same room, only then it was decorated much more childishly. The furniture had upgraded from cutesy things to deep colored wooden dresser and a desk near the two windows. The walls were painted a soft lilac, and the floor was the same wood in most of the rooms, which felt nice underneath ones feet. However she did have a decently sized black rug that stretched from the foot of her bed, nearly to the door. She eyed her teddy bare on her dresser a moment, her cheeks flushing. She hoped he didn't think her childish for having it, but he didn't seem to care or notice.

"Thank you, Kurt. But I don't think you came in here just to compliment my room, hm?" Leila questioned with a warm smile.

"Uh, no. I was wondering," He began, bringing a hand to rub the back of his neck while the other lifted up his bag "If you would like to do homework together?"

Leila hadn't ever really done homework with anyone else. It was usually her time to get some quiet to herself, but the hopeful smile that Kurt gave her was just too much so she simply nodded, "Sure!"

Leila slipped further up her bed to give them both space to bring out their homework and spread it out on her bed. They basically had the same homework from the classes they shared, and the ones they didn't they could simply help each other out. Though it seemed as if Kurt was having a hard time understanding all of the things in English, so Leila did her best to help out but she wasn't much of a tutor.

It wasn't long though before homework was abandoned, (mostly) finished and they had started to talk about other things while listening to the stereo.

"So how do you say 'Thank you' in German?" Leila asked Kurt, resting her chin on the palm of her hand.

"danke." Kurt responded, looking at her with a grin.

"danke." Leila repeated. Kurt laughed.

"What?"

"You pronounced it wrong, but good enough."

Leila giggled and stuck out her tongue, "Suppose you'll have to teach me more sometime then."

Kurt looked at her keeping his grin and nodded, "I'd like that."

"Don't think I have anything to teach you, fur ball." Leila said, reaching forward. She tapped the image inducer and Kurt shimmered back to his normal looks.

He looked down, and she could see his elf-like ears tip down. "I look so...Erschreckend like this."

Leila lifted her brow, "I'm not going to even attempt to say that word. I would butcher it, and you wouldn't ever want to hear me say another German word." She joked.

"Frightening." Kurt muttered. He looked ashamed. Leila frowned and reached forward, placing her hand on his forearm.

"I don't think you look frightening, Kurt. I think you look pretty awesome, I mean, I would kill to have a tail!"

Kurt looked up at her, his yellow eyes wide with surprise. "Really?"

Leila nodded, bringing her hand back with a grin. "Really really. I mean, I get the whole image inducer thing, going to school and all. Not everyone would be ready to see that."

He looked unsure again and Leila quickly added, "But what do you think they would say if they saw the Goth-Girl use shadow magic? They would probably like, think I was a witch or something."

Kurt chuckled at that, bringing his eyes back up to meet hers. Leila felt her heart skip a beat and she swallowed, breaking the eye contact and looking back down at their school work, "Should probably finish this before it gets too late. Training wont be too long off."

Kurt kept her gaze on her, his lips turning to a smile. "Natürlich, Leila."

Leila giggled and poked at him with a finger, "And no German unless you plan on telling me what it means!"

"Of course."

"So what did it mean?"

"It meant of course!"

The room was filled with both Kurt and Leila's laughter.

* * *

Training was usually held in the Danger room. And it usually started with a quick warm up, stretches, lifting objects with ones mind, in Jeans case, and other such things.

Leila busied herself with a training dummy, punching and kicking, as strong as her mutant ability could be, her melee could always use some work.

Her lengthy black hair was tied up into a tight pony tail, and then wrapped into a bun, held together by two pins. Her X-Man suit was much like everyone else, black latex up her legs and covering her arms coming to her hands in finger-less gloves. A leotard was worn over it, dark purple with another X down the middle of her front.

The door to the danger room opened and in walked both Wolverine and Storm. Wolverine walked over to the three others, while Storm came to Leila. "Good evening, Leila."

"Hi Storm," Leila greeted, wiping sweat from her forehead. She stopped her punches and turned to face the white haired elementalist.

"We will be training together tonight. The Professor wants to see how your defenses have been coming along."

The breath caught in Leila's throat. She was excited to be able to train with Storm, but she wondered if she would be able to impress.

Leila nodded and followed Storm to the middle of the room, where Wolverine had instructed the others to wait. Scott cheered Leila on, and Jean looked on with a smile. "She so has this. She's been practicing for months."

Kurt looked at the two and then to Leila with an excited smile stretching over his lips.

"We will start off easy, if I feel like you can take more, we will continue. Understand?" Storm asked Leila, lifting her hands into the air. Her eyes began to glow white.

Leila swallowed nervously and nodded, "Understood."

Just as the word left her lips Storm lifted into the air, spreading her arms. Lightning was tossed in Leila's direction. The crackling sound sent shivers down her spine, and she barely jumped out of the way, unable to conjure her shield. She skitted back on her feet, looking over to the ones watching. The teens were still cheering her on and Wolverine looked on with a careful eye, just in case.

"Concentrate, Crowfeather!" Storm called out over her raging wind around her. Her voice was booming, but it gave Leila confidence. Another lightning bolt sent straight towards her. She closed her eyes, focusing and drawing her shadows. Her arms lifted up and a pillar of darkness erupted from the floor, sending the colliding with the bolt.

She wasn't given much more time before two others came following. She gasped and stretched out her arms. The pillar dispersed and instead came back to her in an instant, turning into a wave that sizzled out with a whistle, blocking the bolts and sending them back in all directions. Thankfully not towards the onlookers, however.

Leila looked up at Storm and could see Storm preparing to send another one her way. She took the chance to lift both of her hands, a purple shadow surrounding her hands. It shot out in a beam, that Storm moved to the side to avoid. The beam transformed into two orbs that followed after her. Leila's eyes widened when the orbs suddenly stopped following her hands, turning from two orbs to four, and then six, and then eight. She took a deep breath, straining to regain control. "Leila! Stop!" She could hear Jean cry from the other side of the room.

With a shout, she sent the orbs into a wall. She panted, seeing the mess of the wall she had made and groaned inwardly. Her heart was racing, and her head hurt with the stress it took to gather herself.

"Leila! This was meant only to be a defense test!" Storm said frowning while flying back down to the ground. "S-Sorry." Leila muttered, looking down at the ground ashamed. "I-I guess I got carried away."

Storm looked at her with a stern gaze, one that wasn't cruel or judging but they both knew something there went wrong. Leila felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. "Go, we will speak about this later." Storm pointed towards the others and Leila nodded, mumbling another apology before jogging over to the others. She didn't meet anyone's gaze, though she could feel their eyes on her.

It really was an accident, wasn't it?

* * *

"Leila. I don't know what happened back there, but do I need to bring it up to the Professor?" Storm had asked her once training was over, catching her just after she changed from her suit.

"Please don't!" Leila blurted out. "I-It was an accident, I didn't mean to. I'm sorry, please, don't tell the Professor."

Storm looked at her surprised, she wasn't expecting such a reluctant answer. "Is everything alright, Leila?"

Leila breathed in a deep sigh, releasing it through her nose. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just been stressed out with school and stuff and uh..." She hesitated, searching her mind for an excuse. "I really don't wanna be grounded, I'm already having a hard time with homework." Leila's heart raced, hoping the older woman would buy it. It wasn't a complete lie, though it was far too early in the year to cause any real damage.

"Very well." Storm finally said, crossing her arms over her chest. Leila nearly jumped around, 'I can't believe that worked!'

"However," Leila's shoulders dropped and she deflated.

"We will be having more training sessions, to help you learn control over your... excitement." Storm settled on the word.

Leila sighed and gave a nod, "Okay. Thank you Storm." She cursed in her mind, she had enough to deal with. She didn't want the extra training... At least it was better than someone going into her mind.

Storm dismissed her and Leila trudged her way to her room, feeling guilty and ashamed and embarrassed all at once.

"Hey, Leila!" Kurt called to her before she opened her door. She closed her eyes and mentally sighed, wanting to be alone for awhile. Still, she found herself turning to face him.

"Are you okay?" He asked her and she bit at her bottom lip, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" He asked, tilting his head. Leila couldn't help but smile slightly, he was too cute for his own good. She paused, feeling her face heat slightly when she thought that.

"I'm positive." She said, smiling this time.

"Well that's too bad, I was thinking of taking you to that burger joint again to get some late dinner." Kurt wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and reached down, flipping his image inducer on.

Leila smirked, "I dunno Kurt, I don't think your stomach could handle two gut-busters in one day. Besides, we aren't really supposed to leave the institute late at night." She leaned against her door, her arms crossing.

Kurt laughed, "Suddenly you follow the rules?" He asked her and reached out his hand.

Leila looked down at his hand, and then up to him. She would get so much shit if they got caught, especially after what had just happened but... maybe it was worth it. "Fine, but don't whine to me if you get a stomach ache." Her hand closed around his, and again, all that was left was the faint smell of brimstone.

….

A few teleports and dollars later, they were back at the institute. But instead of going to either of their rooms they decided to eat their stuff out in the back courtyard.

The courtyard was a sight to see in the day time, but somehow it looked even better bathed in the moonlight. Together they sat, eating their food in peace, at times talking and others enjoying the night.

Leila took a deep breath in, smelling the nature around them. "This place is wonderful. Back where I used to live, we didn't have any trees near us. All city."

"Where did you used to live?" Kurt asked, setting down the last bit of his burger.

"Virginia. It's a nice place, in some areas. And the house I was at was really nice, but I dunno. Didn't compare to this. No wonder the Prof turned it into a school. I wouldn't be able to live here on my own either, way too big a place."

"It does feel like it would get lonely." Kurt said softly, looking over the pool. Their was little wind, so the water was still, rippling the image of the moon.

"Yeah... I guess that can count if you are surrounded by people too though." Leila muttered, sitting back against the wall they were against.

Kurt looked at her and she continued, "I was with my parents and my older brother for most of my childhood, pretty normal family other than me. They didn't find out I was a mutant until Professor X came along, and after that they got scared of me. Said things around the house breaking, missing things, and the problems with the lights made a lot more sense. Gabriel, my brother, he knew about it way long before they did though. At least, that's what he says." She shrugs her shoulders, leaning her head back against the wall when she looked up at the moon.

"I don't mind it too much, I was never close with Gabriel, or my parents. They said it was hard to get close to me because I didn't talk to them. I guess it happens. And the shock of having a mutant kid, heh. Their perfect reputation couldn't be muddied, so they had the Professor and Logan bring me here. I haven't seen them since."

Kurt reached over and placed his hand on my shoulder, he was still using his image inducer but Leila didn't want to bring it up then. "I understand what that can be like. I don't know my real parents, they didn't want me. The ones who adopted me in Germany were very kind to me though. They sent me here for a better chance at living. With those like me." Leila nodded slowly, bringing her hand up to rest over his.

"The Professor is good to us anyway, where else would you be able to be in a place like this where people accept you?" She asked.

"I don't know. We're still hiding though, aren't we?" Kurt said, Leila could feel his real fingers hidden behind the inducer rub slowly along hers. She felt a soft blush but tried to ignore it.

"For now. I don't think the humans could trust us the way we are. They wouldn't understand, but Professor really believes that one day we will all live together in peace." Leila spoke, turning her head to look at him.

"Do you believe that?" Kurt asked softly.

Leila hesitated to answer. She wasn't sure herself. She could barely trust herself sometimes with her powers, she was sure if others knew what she could do they would be frightened of her. How was she supposed to believe that they would live together one day?

Instead she stood up, brushing the dust from her pants. "You wanted to know why they call me Crowfeather, right?"

Kurt stood up after her and nodded, wide eyed. Leila looked over her shoulder and grinned while walking over to the pool, "Watch."

She faced forward, feeling Kurt's eyes on her back. Her eyes closed and she focused, bringing her hands up and then back as if pulling on a jacket. She took a deep breath, summoning up the darkness, and then with a release of breath she swung her arms out to the sides. Following her hands, large night-black wings erupted from her back. She stretched them out when she turned around, feathers cascading down to the ground.

Kurt stood, mouth agape. He stared intently and Leila giggled. She moved her shoulders, causing the feathered wings to ripple and flap twice. Feathers were blown in his direction, one ironically landing on his nose. He lifted his hand up and took the feather between two fingers, looking at it amazed.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Leila questioned after the silence went on for a bit too long.

"You can fly!?" Kurt asked, bounding over to her with an excited grin. She nodded, "I can, but it usually takes a lot out of me so... I don't often."

Leila closed her eyes just as Kurt reached out to touch one of the wings, and very suddenly they dispersed into nothingness, even the feather that was in Kurt's hand rippled away.

"Erstaunlich!" Kurt spoke in his language making Leila laugh, but she didn't question what it meant.

Leila's mouth stretched in a yawn, which she hid behind her hand. "We should get back inside and get to bed before it gets too late. If I oversleep my alarm clock, I'm coming after you, Blue-boy."

Kurt laughed, "As if you could catch me!" Leila smirked, placing a hand on her hip. "Maybe we'll have to find out sometime."

She began to walk past him to return to her room but she felt him grab her wrist, making her jump and spin around. He only smirked. Suddenly they weren't in the courtyard anymore, but in her bedroom.

She blinked a few times and gave a soft laugh, "That has to come in handy."

"Certainly," Kurt grinned and began walking to her door. Leila watched from her spot next to her bed and when Kurt turned to her with a smile that she found most charming, murmuring a soft "Gute Nacht mein Freund." She could feel her heart beat just a tad quicker.

Once he was gone, and her door shut she fell onto her bed bringing her hands to her face. She could feel how hot it was. She bit her bottom lip and turned to her side. There was no way she had a crush on him already. No way. She refused to believe it.

The blush on her face did it's best to prove her wrong.

* * *

A/N: Hello! Thank you for reading. I've noticed a lot of stories under X-Men Evolution haven't been completed (at least with OC's) and I find that pretty disappointing. So I will do my best to keep this one up if people enjoy reading it! Please, let me know what you think~


	3. Chapter 3: Crushed cars and Mall crawls

(A/N): About a month passes between each episode. The chapters in between episodes are always within that time period! I would like to thank those who have favorited and followed the story! :)

* * *

Chapter 3: Crushed cars and Mall crawls.

* * *

Sometime during the night...

Leila was awake far past her normal bed time, currently sitting on her bed with her legs crossed beneath her. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing steady. It was hard to find time to do her meditations during the day, with school and training, so she took herself to doing them at night. It was easier for her, surrounded with no light anyway. With another deep breath, she began. Shadows from around the room began to surround her, pooling beneath her crossed legs. Shortly she began to levitate from the bed.

Her meditations put her in another spot completely. Some place in her mind, that was safe. She had to keep good thoughts to keep it that way, however. Her good thoughts had changed over the years, from her teddy bare, to playing with the Professor and Logan, to flying for the first time. And now, she found herself thinking of a certain Blue-furred mutant. The month or so he had been here, they became fast friends and Leila found that if she thought of him, she could calm her nerves.

However, something began to poke at the back of her mind. A cold feeling passed over her. Outside of her meditation her face began to scrunch up, focusing not to break the concentration. Thunder boomed outside, and her concentration was broken. She sucked in a gasp of air and her safe place left her minds eye. Instead, she was someplace darker, colder, empty. Her heart began to beat faster, and it felt like it were stuck in her throat. She jumped when she saw something from the corner of her gaze. It was not her first time here, and every time she came she got closer and closer to seeing whatever it was. The things that kept out of her line of sight. It felt like a great weight was being forced down on her chest, making her struggle to breath. She could hear it, right next to her ear but when she turned, there was nothing there.

Suddenly there was another flash of lightning, and a boom of thunder. It broke Leila completely from her meditation and with a grunt she fell from the levitation, back down to her bed. She sucked in breath, feeling the weight, the cold gone. She lifted her hands to her face, and let the breath out shakily.

Not far from there, unknown to Leila and the others at the institute, asides from Professor Xavier, of course... another girl was falling. Straight through her roof.

* * *

Leila huffed a sigh when she closed her locker door shut. Her sleepy eyes were a bit baggy. She definitely hadn't gotten enough sleep the past few days or so, with the homework and other things on her mind. Not to mention the extra training with Storm. The only good thing about it, was that Storm was seeing that Leila could have control over her powers... On good days. Which she had had a lot of, mostly.

She turned around and saw that Kurt was late to his locker... again. She shook her head, a small grin on her face. She doubted she would be able to come up with an excuse to the teacher for him again. Clicking her tongue, she shrugged and made her way to first class.

….

Scott, Leila and Kurt were walking back to the institute when they saw Logan peel out on his motorcycle. After a strong gust of wind followed, Leila smirked, "What a show off."

"What's up with Logan?" Kurt asked.

"Whoa, that man is packing some serious attitude!" Scott added.

Leila shrugged, "Doesn't he always?" Kurt looked up to Scott and then to Leila with a mischievous grin, "Wanna follow him?"

"Let's go!" Scott agreed, and they both took off in the direction of Scott's car.

"Guys! I don't think it's a good idea to follow Logan, he looks pretty pissed off an– and they're gone. Wait for me!" Leila chased after them.

"Should we take the X-Van?" Kurt asked once the garage door was opened. The big looming truck looked like it could crush phone poles.

"Yeah right, if Logan catches us, he's already gonna be mad. He'd be furious if we jacked the van too." Leila argued, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Besides, we got something cooler." Scott said, hopping into his car. "You guys coming?"

Kurt ported into the front seat and Leila took the place in the back. "This is a seriously bad idea."

Her words fell on deaf ears when the car peeled out of the garage.

….

Following a very angry Logan on a very fast bike proved to be challenging. What a surprise. It wasn't long before Scott pulled the car to a stop, "Argh! I've lost him!" Kurt grumbled and hit the car door.

"Hey, Hey! Watch it! The door panel is smudge resistant, not dent resistant!" Scott cried. His car was his baby. Leila couldn't help but snicker, Logan felt the same way about his bikes.

She turned her gaze up, eyebrow lifting when she saw the man of the hour looking over the city on top of a car storage. "Found him." She said, pointing up.

"It looks like he's got company!" Kurt said when suddenly another bike was driven from another roof onto where Logan was.

"How does someone even get a bike up where he came from?" Leila wondered aloud.

From down below they couldn't hear anything that the two guys were saying, but Leila instinctively glared when she saw Logan's steel claws flash out against the sunlight.

The three teenage mutants eyes widened when the bike was flown from the roof, the guy riding it jumping off just in time. "Uhh..." Kurt reached back, touching Leila's knee, the other hand gripping Scott, porting them from the vehicle just in time to see it smashed by the bike.

"My car!" Scott cried out angrily.

"Oof.. Ouch." Leila felt bad for him a moment, only to look back up searching for the guy and Logan. Who was the other punk anyway?

There were sounds of crashing and Leila could hear Logan's yells. "Are we gonna sit here and watch or help him out?" Leila snapped, not waiting for an answer and running over to the entrance.

"One shall fall by the other's hand, Our destiny. We can't change it!" Growled the mystery man. He had Logan pinned up against a pillar with a semi-crushed car.

"Hey! Ugly!" Leila _seriously_ needed to work on her distractions. But it worked. Her hands glowed purple and she shot a beam into the man just as he turned around to look at her, flinging him into another car.

Scott and Kurt showed up just behind her, suited up and ready. Leila blinked, "How the hell did you guys get changed?"

She didn't get an answer, instead Kurt ran to tackle the man, porting into him just to be flung back. "Typical." Kurt muttered after hitting the floor. Leila finally got a good look at the guy when he started to growl and creep up on Kurt. He had long dirty blond hair, and a mutton chop that almost put Logan's to shame. This guy was obviously strong, he had huge shoulders and thick looking sharp claws from his hands. And maybe the bushiest brows that Leila had ever seen.

Scott shot an eye beam at the guy right before he got close enough to Kurt, and Logan followed it up with a body tackle, sending them both into an elevator.

Leila watched as Logan was kicked out of the elevator, and the doors closed. "A taste of what is to come, Logan!" They could hear from the shaft when Logan tore the door down with his metal claws.

"Hah!" Kurt said when the three teens walked over to Logan, "We showed him! We are the X-Men!"

Wolverine turned to them with a glare, "I don't fight your battles, so _don't_ fight mine." He growled and walked by them.

Leila watched Logan's back, hearing Kurt's "Ah, He loves us!"

Her brows furrowed. Who was that guy? And what did he want with Logan anyway? She groaned inwardly, knowing she probably wouldn't get an answer.

"Oh yeah, big time." Scott said, crossing his arms. Leila turned to face the two, sighing.

"We've lost a great comrade today, my friends." She said solemnly. The two looked after her confused and followed her back to Scott's car.

"We can rebuild him!" Kurt joked and laughed.

Scott covered his face with his palm, obviously irked. Leila rubbed the back of her neck, "That sucks. I was gonna ask to get some grub after this."

Only a moment passed before she asked, "But seriously, how did you guys change so fast!?"

* * *

That night when they all had made it back home, safe and sound they were greeted with Professor Xavier and Jean with a new addition to their little group. A girl named Katherine (or Kitty as she would prefer to be called) Pryde. She was American, with a petite and slender figure. Her long brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, with some layers that covered her face and light blue eyes. She was only fifteen, and came from Deerfield Highschool.

"It's nice to meet you," Leila had introduced herself, a bit shyly but with a smile. For a moment she was worried that she would end up having to share a room with the young girl, but it seemed like that wouldn't be a problem.

"Hi." Kitty had said, tucking a strand of hair behind her hair. The others were there as well. "Show us your power, Kitty!" Kurt encouraged. She placed her hand on a wall and it slipped through.

"That's pretty cool," Scott said with a friendly smile.

The rest of the night was spent with Kitty and Jean retelling the tale of what happened at Kitty's former high school. Leila wondered mostly from it all what had happened to the other mutant, Lance Alvers.

Leila could see that Kitty was uncomfortable with all of this and she could understand where the girl was coming from it was all very new. She thought that if she wasn't raised here from such a young age, she would have been frightened too.

The next day was the weekend, so Leila excused herself for an early goodnight. She so planned on catching up on some sleep.

* * *

The next morning Leila woke up feeling refreshed. She hadn't had any thing waking her up, and no nightmares. No training today also meant that she would have a full day of relaxation. _'No homework, either! Yes!'_

Having to wait awhile for use of the bathroom didn't even bother her, and by the time she got her turn, and was all finished she was feeling pretty hungry so she made her way down the stairs, dressed in just a t-shirt, an old pair of jeans and a pair of converse.

She hopped down the stairs, always skipping the second one and finally made it into the kitchen. It was mostly empty, other than the familiar form of Logan sipping on coffee.

"One good thing bout having you back, coffee is always ready in the morning." Leila joked.

He ignored her, bringing his paper closer up to his face.

She made her cup of coffee and settled on some toast, flopping down on the chair that was to the right of Logan. The silence was unsettling but it didn't seem to mind him at all.

"Come on, you aren't angry at us still are you? We were just worried about you."

Logan narrowed his eyes at her from over his paper. "Okay, well I was worried. The boys just wanted to get out, I guess. Things had been slow for awhile."

He only grunted.

"C'moooon. Save your grudges for the bad guys, like that fuzzy guy from yesterday, who even was that?" Couldn't hurt to ask, could it?

Oh, it could. It could bad.

"It was dumb of you to follow me, I could understand the other two but you know better." He gruffly said, dropping his paper on the table.

Leila shrugged, "We didn't get hurt."

"You could have! Say you loose your powers somehow, what happens then? You can't even take a punch from the dummies in the training room."

Leila felt her face burn in embarrassment. "That's not true." She mumbled under her breath.

"Training room! Now!" He barked out and stormed out of the room.

"Oh, come on – no!" Too late. He was gone, not like he would have listened to her anyway. She rolled her eyes, huffing. She had to open her mouth.

She took another, long sip of her coffee before leaving her breakfast, unfinished for whatever poor soul that had to clean the place up that day. Spoiler, it turns out to be her.

…

Leila hesitated as long as she could before she finally made it into the training room, suited up and ready for whatever Logan had planned for her. She knew making him wait was a bad idea, he was already angry enough at her but call it stubbornness, or a death wish.

It took about five minuets into the session for her to regret that decision. Logan did not go easy on her, first starting out with a hand-to-hand match between them. Which so wasn't fair, he was way experienced than her and she ended up kissing the floor at least three times.

As if that wasn't enough, he then had her with the training dummies, correcting her if she so much as put her foot in the wrong spot. "Hopeless," Logan muttered, his arms crossed as he watched her.

He knew he was being hard on her, but having her there when Sabertooth of all people decided to show his ugly mug, he knew she had to be prepared for anything and everything.

"Powers wont always be there to save your hide if something goes wrong, there will be times when your enemies are in your face." It wasn't that he was giving her special treatment, he knew that she was possibly the weakest out of the other members when it came to fighting up close and personal. She wouldn't' be able to phase out of the way of an attack like the new pipsqueak, either.

Finally, after a few long hours Logan turned her loose, telling her that her training would involve more of what she experienced today. Joy.

Leila winced when she was getting changed into her regular clothes. She felt like she was sore all over, and wouldn't be surprised if a few bruises showed up on her pale skin later on. So much for a relaxing day off.

"So not fair..." She grumbled when she made her way back into the main room of the institute. She paused when she saw the new girl, Kitty wandering around looking like she was aimless. Poor thing seemed lost.

"Uh, hey." Leila started awkwardly, with an unnecessary wave.

Kitty jumped and nearly phased through the table she was leaning against "Oh, like, hi. Leila, right?"

Leila nodded, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "Big place, huh?"

"Yeah no kidding! A girl could really get lost here." Kitty said with a smile that looked pretty fake. Leila assumed she was one of those 'sheltered life' kids.

"Takes a bit to get used to, that's for sure..." Leila paused. There was another awkward silent moment before she took a breath and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

"Bayville isn't so bad though, the school is pretty okay and there's some fun things to do around here.. Like going to the mall.. if you are interested?" Leila offered the only thing that she thought the girl would like.

"Really? That would be, like, awesome!" Kitty brightened up almost instantly.

"What's really awesome is that the Professor is loaded." Leila joked, which wasn't really a lie. The Professor did have money, and he would take care of most of their needs. He started giving Leila an allowance when she turned Eight and if there was one thing that Leila was good with, it was at saving money.

"Can you drive?" Kitty asked excitedly, "Let me go get dressed!" She ran off before Leila could even answer.

Leila couldn't drive, and there was no way she would put Scott through shopping at the mall with two girls so instead she looked out someone else.

"Please?"

"Leila, I'm kind of busy right now."

Storm was in her room filled with plants, using her rain to water them. It seemed the moment the water touched them, they spruced up.

"You don't even have to stay with us, you could just drop us off and pick us up later!"

Storm looked unsure but her clouds went away so Leila went for the sale, "It's for Kitty anyway, I was thinking maybe going out for a bit would help her get used to the place..."

Storm considered a moment, before giving her a small smile. "That's very thoughtful of you, Leila. Very well, you girls meet me outside in five."

 _Score!_

The mall was like Kitty's comfort zone. She completely opened up, talking about five miles an hour about clothes one moment, and then something totally different the next, dragging Leila through each of the stores. It was new for Leila for sure, she was never much of a mall rat, and the amount of energy that Kitty had could never be matched by the shadow manipulator.

Still, Leila was happy to see Kitty relaxed and enjoying herself. She even bought some new clothes, totally different than what she normally wore, thanks to Kitty helping her shop.

They were still in mostly darker colors, but not all black. Leila found most of it pretty form fitting, and she didn't mind the colors. They had a mini fashion show of their own, up till the shop owners just about got sick of having them there.

"Ooh, you wanna get our hair done?" Kitty asked, pointing over to the salon. "I don't know Kitty, I like my hair the way it is."

"Yeah but like, a change is always nice, right?"

Leila hesitated but the hopeful look that Kitty gave her broke her and she agreed. Instead of getting it cut or anything like that, no way she would let anyone touch the length of her hair. She got it curled. It took ages, her hair was so long. But when she saw her reflection, she kind of liked it. It wouldn't be a permanent look for her, but it was a nice change... for now.

The Salon lady sold her some special shampoo and conditioner for it, that put her back in the wallet some, but all in all she was a happy camper.

"You look amazing! I so told you!~" Kitty winked at her when they left. Leila smiled shyly, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. "Thanks Kitty."

They stopped for some soda and pizza, having only a few minuets before Storm would be there to pick them up.

"I swear! He was like, such a creep! He only wanted me around to steal test answers for him." Kitty grumbled, sipping on her soda. They were sat a table a ways off from other people.

"Tell me about it, all men are jerks." Leila complained, thinking about the grueling training session earlier that morning. Not only was she still sore about that, now her feet were absolutely killing her from shopping all night.

"Oh really~ Do you have any guyfriends~?" Kitty asked, leaning forward. "I am all ears."

Leila blushed, distracting herself with a sip of her drink. "Uh... Nah. Not really. Sure, I have some guy friends. Like Kurt, and Scott." She thought about Todd for a moment, but thought it was best not to mention him.

"Scott's kinda cute, yeah?"

Leila snickered, setting her empty cup on the table. "Hmm, not my type."

Kitty laughed, "Then what is your type? Let me guess... You like them tall dark and handsome?"

Leila laughed with her and shook her head, "I dunno. I guess, they would have to be funny. Or at least make me laugh. Understanding, Mutant-Life dating can be tough, y'know?"

Kitty seemed to deflate slightly so Leila quickly added, "Good thing there are plenty of cute mutants out there."

That seemed to cheer her up enough to continue her five-mile chatting.

Not long after Storm fetched them from the mall and took them home. All in all Kitty seemed to be in higher spirits, at least for awhile so Leila felt like she did an okay job. Storm even complimented her hair.

They split apart after they got home and said bye, Kitty running off to wherever and Leila making her way to her room. She paused, to make a stop on the balcony to watch the sun go down.

"Busy day?" The smell of brimstone gave off who had startled her.

"Kurt! Don't sneak up on me!" Leila whined, turning her head to face him. He paused when she turned to face him, his face turning a shade of purple. He seemed to clear up quick and came over and leaned against the railing with her.

"Sorry," He snickered.

"Yeah, I had a busy day. Solo training with Logan, and then a mall trip with Kitty."

Kurt smiled at her. "Do you take it upon yourself to welcome all new members?"

Leila turned to face him with a grin, "It is but my civil duty, sir."

Kurt laughed, "And here I thought I was special."

"Sure you are. My special Blue boy." She joked.

Kurt fidgeted a moment before blurting out, "Your hair looks nice that way!"

Leila lifted a hand up to touch her new curls and blushed a soft pink, smiling shyly. "Oh, thanks. It was Kitty's idea."

"I like it, it's really nice. It frames your face and uh..." Kurt stopped, awkwardly coughing.

Leila only grinned to herself and turned her gaze up to the sun that was slowly setting, casting an orange glow across the back courtyard. "Leila, your arm, are you okay?"

She looked down when he mentioned and saw that she had a bruise formed on her forearm. She covered it up sheepishly and shrugged, "Yeah I'm fine. Solo training with Logan, remember? Pale skin seems to bruise easy."

"Es tut mir Leid."

Leila had stopped asking him to translate all the time, sometimes just enjoying the sound of his native tongue.

"Does it hurt?"

"A little bit, but I'm a big girl, it'll go away fast. I'll just wear a long sleeved shirt at school till it's gone."

Kurt reached forward, brushing a blue finger along the bruise. Leila winced and tugged her arm back, giving him a smile, "Don't worry about it fuzzball."

He watched her look back up to the sun, that now was gone, being replaced by the first silver hues of the moon. His tail swayed happily, and he shifted just a bit closer to her.

Leila pretended not to notice.

* * *

(Thanks again for reading!)


	4. Chapter 4: A little bit of bad!

Chapter 4: A little taste of bad!

"Yo, Crowfood!"

Leila blinked. She was out, spending the day on her own. Currently she was at the mall, this time on her own just about to enter the book store located near the food court. The last person she thought she would run into here of all places was him.

"Hello, Toad man." Leila greeted, turning to face him. She was surprised to see someone with him.

He was pretty tall and had a muscular and solid frame. He had dark, brown hair that was long and brown eyes. His skin complexion was a tan-olive color. He wore a brown, leather vest over a black shirt with torn jeans that had tears around his knees. He wore brown boots and black, finger-less gloves.

"Yee-oow! Lovin' the new 'do, girl. You're lookin' fine!" Toad wiggled his eyebrows.

"Who's your friend?" Leila asked, feeling somewhat on guard. _Guess I wont be shopping for books today..._

"The name is Lance."

Leila stared at the two for a moment, wondering if she should make an escape before things got ugly.

"Pleasure." She said dismissively, reaching down to pick up her bag.

"Toad here says you're like us."

"Did he?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest. She stared pointedly at Toad, who seemed to shrink down under her gaze.

"Now Toad, I told you that in confidence." Leila clicked her tongue, bringing her bag around her shoulder.

"He also says you're one of those X-Geeks." Lance sneered. Leila matched it with a glare.

"What of it?" She shot back.

Toad hopped in between them, holding up his hands. "Chill Lance, Lei is cool, ain't that right, Lei?"

Leila took in a breath, somewhat thankful for Toad getting in the way. She exhaled and gave a small smirk, "What? I'm the coolest, duh."

Lance had a smirk of his own, crossing his arms over his chest. "Prove it. Think you can do something bad, or are you one of those goody two shoes?"

"Fine. What do you want me to do?" Leila accepted the challenge ignoring the warning voice in the back of her mind.

"Toad here has been wanting a new MP3 player, right Toad?" Lance elbowed the shorter boy next to him. Toad flinched from the elbow and nodded, "Yeah dog, last one broke."

Lance pointed to the electronics store across the way, "Don't think they would mind us borrowing one, huh?"

Leila gave a one armed shrug and huffed a sigh, "Simple." She turned invisible and smirked to herself at the surprise on the two boys face.

She could just imagine the amount of flack she would get if this got back to any of the others, all the extra training, chores around the house. A shudder went through her. _Maybe this is a bad idea..._

It didn't take long to slip past the entrance, looking over the electronics. She didn't even recognize some of these gadgets. The person behind the counter flipped through a comic book, not even looking up at the people who were actually shopping. It was too easy to pick up one of the MP3players and stuff it into her pocket, as soon as it was hidden by her clothes, it vanished from sight.

Leila eyed the alarm gates. She could easily enough short them out with her powers, but that would probably bring too much attention, so instead she waited a few extra moments for someone to buy something and walk out of the shop. She stuck at their side, just close enough that they wouldn't feel her.

The alarms went off and the person stopped, while Leila kept walking. The boys were looking over to the store, and she could hear Lance say something about the alarms. Rolling her eyes she reached and grabbed both of their shirt collars, almost laughing when they jumped. She dragged them away from the scene, around the corner and let her shadows turn her visible again, holding up the little machine.

"You're like a ghost, yo!" Leila smirked at Toad and tossed him the MP3,

"You're welcome." Leila said, maybe just a bit smugly.

"Impressive." Lance said with a grin, looking at her. She could basically see the gears turning in his head and she lifted a finger, waving it in his face. "Don't get any ideas," She then narrowed her eyes, "And keep this to yourselves. If the others find out about this, I will strangle the both of you."

Lance shrugged, keeping his grin. "Your power could be useful for us, that's all. Is that all you got under your arsenal?"

Leila laughed, "Buy a girl a drink before you try to learn all her secrets."

This was not the way she thought she would be spending her afternoon, stealing a cheap MP3 player (feeling only a _little_ guilty over it) and sipping soda with Toad and the Lance Alvers, that Kitty had just ragged on a couple of nights before.

"So what makes you want to be a good guy?" Lance asked her, leaning back in his chair.

Leila sipped at her cream soda, which was her absolute favorite. "Is it really so black and white?" She asked.

Lance rolled his eyes.

"Okay." Leila laughed, figuring that a cop-out answer wouldn't work. "I'm at the institute 'cos I grew up there. I was really young when the Professor found me, so I dunno, I feel like I owe him. He's helped with my power too."

"Has he helped you control your power, or is he controlling you?" Lance challenged.

Leila frowned. "He cares about us, Alvers. I know you know what it's like being raised without parents."

He didn't respond, so Leila changed it up. "So I know your power, from Kitty."

Lance's fist clenched at the name and there was a little tremor. "Fresh wound?" Leila teased and shrugged, "I'd be pretty sore if Jean beat me too. That girl is way too perfect."

"For an X-Man you are pretty open." Lance muttered, his eyes narrowed.

Leila tilted her head, smiling. "I'm not telling you anything that's not obvious. You wont get any real secrets from me."

Toad was off busy trying to catch some flies, and Leila shivered. Probably the only thing about him that she found gross. She hated bugs.

"Your powers seem too dark to be a good guy."

"Is that a pun, Rocky?"

Leila and Lance stared at each other before sharing a grin. Leila frowned when she took another sip of her drink, finding it empty.

"Just sayin', shadow powers. Darkness. The whole Goth thing you got going, it screams rebel bad girl."

Leila perked a brow, "You're gonna have to try harder than that."

Lance smirked, "I think I can be pretty convincing in the right situation."

Leila felt another warning voice in the back of her mind, but she ignored it. She hadn't really done anything way too bad, but she didn't like how Lance seemed to look at her like an opportunity.

"Well," She said, standing up. Her cup flew across the short distance to the trash can in a tendril that no one could see but her. "If that situation ever happens, you let me know." It wasn't exactly an invention, more of a mocking gesture and Lance seemed to get it.

"Gonna go back to that fancy mansion and sit around all day waiting for something fun to happen? Or do you wanna make the fun happen yourself?" Lance questioned her when she turned around.

…

Okay so. If stealing the MP3 player made her guilty, the couple of sunglasses, one for herself and one for Lance, a t-shirt for Toad that had a picture of a psychedelic frog as a joke, and some CDs she should be feeling terrible.

But she wasn't. If anything, seeing how Lance showed off with the sunglasses was worth it. Leila had made the remark how he should be a model and it made them both laugh til their sides hurt.

Still, she knew it was wrong. So she kept reminding herself that the shops would probably not even notice that the things were missing. It wasn't like she was robbing a bank, or stealing candy from a baby.

They ended their little attack on the mall in a candy shop, where all three of them got a decent amount.

"I can't believe they put scorpions in lollipops, what even?" Leila questioned when they left the mall. Toad was pleasantly surprised, and crunched down the lolli in one bite.

She followed the two to Lance's jeep and grinned, "I'd ask for a ride home but yeah... Don't want the others to assume you kidnapped me or something."

"You could come with us to our place, yo. Throw on some movies or somethin'!" Toad offered, leaning against the door while smoothing back his hair... It flung straight back up.

Leila laughed, shaking her head. "Maybe another time, lover boy."

"Maybe we'll see you around, Ghost." Lance called her that after the third or fourth thing she had swiped? She lost count.

She waved over her shoulder and began to walk in the other direction, hearing the jeep start up and Toad's voice, "She _totally_ digs me."

"In your dreams, Toad."

The bag over her shoulder was a bit heavier, and halfway home on the bus ride back she realized she hadn't even gone into the bookstore. _Dang it_.

Across the other side of town, Lance had a phone up to his ear. "Yeah, it went fine. She's a cool chick, her powers would be useful. Shadow manipulation or whatever she called it... No she didn't want to join us. She has some sort of connection to the Professor at their stupid institute..."

* * *

Finally Leila was home, dropping her bag on her bed and plopping down onto her desk chair. Turning the chair around she emptied the contents of her bag onto her bed, CDs and her sunglasses tumbled out along with some other things like a mug with a cartoon puppy on it. There was another hoodie, and a pair of leather, finger-less gloves that Lance had convinced her to take as well as a black leather wallet with a metal clasp of angel wings. She found it oddly fitting.

Sitting back in the desk chair she bit her bottom lip. She did feel a little guilty, but mostly was only recalling the amount of fun she had. Before Kurt came along, she didn't hang out much with Scott or Jean, they were older than her and didn't get along that great. They were friends, but not like... hang out friends.

So, she guessed, it was nice to have some people to troll around with. Even if it was a little bit of bad. That didn't make her bad, right?

Of course not. She brushed off whatever bad feelings she had and decided to grab some food. 'Cos food always helped!

Leila decided on a sandwich and piled up the ingredients, lettuce, tomatoes, ham, cheese, and turkey! Using her powers so much during the day had left her with quite and appetite. She even helped herself to one of the hidden sodas.

"You look awfully happy today, Leila." Leila jumped out of her skin and groaned.

"What is it with people sneaking up on me in this house!?"

Jean laughed and took a seat next to her, holding an apple in her hand. "Sorry, have a good day?"

Leila lifted a brow, taking a nervous sip of her drink. "Uh, yeah, it was nice. Why do you ask?"

Jean shrugged her shoulders, taking a bite of her apple. "Just noticing," She said after she swallowed.

They awkwardly stared at each other for a few moments before Leila blurted out, "Are you in my head?"

Jean sputtered up the bite she almost took, eyes wide. "What? No!..." She narrowed her eyes, "Should I be?"

Leila took a big bite of her sandwich in a lame attempt to hide her relief. "Nuhp." She swallowed, her throat struggling with the size of the gulp, "Nope. You shouldn't."

"Okay then, I wont." Jean seemed offended that Leila had asked, and felt slightly suspicious of the random accusation.

"Uhm, okay. Thanks."

Awkward silence. Leila found it strange that Jean even bothered to sit next to her to talk, she didn't do that often. Didn't she have some honors homework to do or something?

"Uhh... Sorry." Leila started, turning to face the red head, "It's just that sometimes when I get too... caught up in my powers the Professor spends a lot of time in my head and I've grown to not enjoy it much." It was a lame explanation, but it was true. Perhaps not the reason she didn't want Jean in her head currently, but that wasn't important.

"Oh," Jean sounded a bit guilty. "That's nothing to be ashamed of. I still have a hard time with my powers too, and I imagine we all will for a long time since they evolve with us."

"Right..." Leila muttered. She felt incredibly uncomfortable. Abandoning her food she stood up from the table, downing her soda. "I gotta go, do you mind tidying up after me, sorry, thank you!" Leila called over her shoulder and escaped outside to the back courtyard.

"Oh Okay –" Jean looked after the retreating Leila and lifted her eyebrows. "Was it something I said?"

As soon as Leila hit the fresh, crisp air of the day turning into night she took in a deep breath and released it with a long stretch. "Probably shouldn't have said that." She muttered to herself, thinking of the most shortest conversation she had with Jean ever just moments ago.

Jean was nice to her, she came off a little perfect, maybe even a little bossy at times but she was older and usually seemed to only want what was best for everyone. Leila should have known better that she wouldn't have gone randomly digging through her head.

Feeling somewhat bad for accusing her, Leila frowned and kicked at a pebble. It bounced off and landed near the garden that was kept off to the side of the institute. Leila looked over the flowers, all sorts of colors and sizes, but all coming together to make it look nice and thought out.

She walked over to the flowers and smiled softly to herself, lifting a hand. The empty patch next to them suddenly became filled with dozens of purely black roses. Of course, they wouldn't stay. But Leila liked to pretend for a moment that they would. One of the roses floated upwards to her hand and she took a closer look at it's petals, noting how much more detail these roses had compared to the ones she used to make when she was a child.

 _'Has he helped you control your power, or is he controlling you?'_

Lances words from before replayed in her mind, and her smile turned to a frown. The roses began to slowly fade away, the last remaining one in her hand. In the back of her mind, she felt a prick, something of a thought, a seed of doubt. The rose flurried out of her hand, and she stuffed both of them into her pockets, shaking her head.

 _The Professor cares about us._

He's the only reason that the corruption didn't spread over her, taking her over as a young child. There was no way he had any ill intentions. It couldn't be like that. Leila had looked up to him like a Father figure since she came here, all the time she had been here her heart had told her to trust him.

But what if he only kept her here because of the threat of her corruption taking over?

Was she here to be with others like herself, or to be controlled?

What would have happened if he didn't find her before the corruption spread?

All of the questions that swirled in her head left her with a cold feeling.

Looking up to the window of his office, she flinched when she saw him looking down at her from his window. His face held no emotion until he saw that she was looking, and then he offered her the same warm smile that he held for all of his students.

Leila swallowed nervously, and walked back into the institute.

* * *

( A/N: Hello! Thank you for reading. Two chapters in one day, woot! \o/ Leila was a bit naughty in this chapter, tsk tsk! - I would like to thank the guest that reviewed my last chapter. Leila does have a lot of training, but really, I think she asked for it when it came to Logan's! :P )


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